A fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told Buettner that the prince—reportedly a billionaire and the son of King Fahd, who died in 2005—devotes much of his time to jet-setting with his entourage.

The prosecutor in the trial said that Ouanes, who had the task of adjusting the climate of the prince's suite, was emboldened to the point of negligence by the luxurious and privileged world he traveled in, Buettner reports.